#10 - Climate Migration

On August 8th 2023, the World Meteorological Organisation reported that the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which was implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission, confirmed that July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded.

Samantha Burgess, the Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said that we just witnessed global air temperatures and global ocean surface temperatures set new all-time records in July. These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet, as they expose us to ever more frequent and intense extreme events..

2023 is currently the third warmest year to date at 0.43ºC above the recent average, with the average global temperature in July at 1.5°C above pre industrial levels. Even if this is only temporary, it shows how urgent the ambitious efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are, which are the main driver behind these records.

Sadly though, still for many people, climate change is a buzzword. A concept rather than a reality. It’s thrown around now and then in conversations - usually to end them. It’s something that is not an immediate concern and is now taken for granted. However, this is a reality for millions of climate refugees who live on the frontlines of the climate crisis. For someone living in a cushy apartment, it’s a rainy day but for others it’s a flood that threatens their home and livelihood. For them, it’s very real and it’s happening now. And as this threat of climate change increases globally, millions of people will find themselves on the precipice of vulnerability. If we continue like this, according to some estimates, there could even be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050.

Greenpeace UK’s journalism project called Unearthed, shed light on the hardships faced by a farmer from Kenya, named Susan Akal. The continuous arid conditions dried up their local pasture and water and it eventually killed their livestock, which was their means of survival. Let’s listen to the video and later we’ll hear more from Reda Petravičiūtė and Julia Thomas who produced this special episode on Climate Migration.